…plus the cream in the center.

It is clear job creating Business leaders chose McCain over Obama largely because his policies are seen as pro-growth, whereas Obama’s policies are viewed as re-distributive and anti-growth. For some months during this Presidential election year, Chief Executive has conducted specialized polling of CEOs’ attitudes on issues affecting national policy and the economy. In CE’s most recent poll in September, 751 respondents, more than double the usual number of business leaders, made their voices heard on their Presidential choice. By a four-to-one margin CEOs support Senator John McCain over his rival, Senator Barack Obama.

Democrat Barack Obama‘s lead over Republican rival John McCain has dropped to 5 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released today. Obama leads McCain by 49 percent to 44 percent among likely U.S. voters in the daily tracking poll, which has a margin of error of 2.9 points. Obama’s lead has dropped over the last three days after hitting a high of 12 points on Thursday.

“Things are trending back for McCain. His numbers are rising and Obama’s are dropping on a daily basis. There seems to be a direct correlation between this and McCain talking about the economy,” pollster John Zogby said.

Honestly, I don’t have much faith in the pools anymore, but seeing how the media loves to remind us when Obama is leading in the pools, I thought you would like this AP Poll.

The poll, which found Obama at 44 percent and McCain at 43 percent, supports what some Republicans and Democrats privately have said in recent days: that the race narrowed after the third debate as GOP-leaning voters drifted home to their party and McCain’s “Joe the plumber” analogy struck a chord.

“I trust McCain more, and I do feel that he has more experience in government than Obama. I don’t think Obama has been around long enough,” said Angela Decker, 44, of La Porte, Ind.

McCain’s strong showing is partly attributable to his strong debate performance; Thursday was his best night of the survey.

During their final debate, a feisty McCain repeatedly forced Obama to defend his record, comments and associations. He also used the story of a voter whom the Democrat had met in Ohio, “Joe the plumber,” to argue that Obama’s tax plan would be bad for working class voters.

“I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody,” Obama told the man with the last name of Wurzelbacher, who had asked Obama whether his plan to increase taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year would impede his ability to buy the plumbing company where he works.

On Wednesday, McCain’s campaign unveiled a new TV ad that features that Obama quote, and shows different people saying: “I’m Joe the plumber.” A man asks: “Obama wants my sweat to pay for his trillion dollars in new spending?”

Since McCain has seized on that line of argument, he has picked up support among white married people and non-college educated whites, the poll shows, while widening his advantage among white men. Black voters still overwhelmingly support Obama.